


Cryostasis of Constellation

by noona96n



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 14:50:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3900307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noona96n/pseuds/noona96n
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven Rogers. America’s First Son and gay icon returns from the military with an honorable discharged. He's now a Political Science student with an issue.<br/>(It has something to do with James ‘Bucky’ Barnes, Margaret ‘Peggy’ Carter and Anthony ‘Edward’ Stark.)</p><p>And he does not talk about his time in the military. Not to his therapist-slash-friend, not to his bodyguard-slash-friend and especially not to his current best friend Tony.<br/>(The thing is, no discussion of the aforementioned event occurred and shits still hit the fucking fan because Nick Fury and Maria Hill keep changing Steve’s bodyguard and Tony is one hell of a curious man.)</p><p> </p><p>(Or: In which Obadiah Shane and Norman Osborn are bffs and out to ruin people's life because they're assholes and Tony is there to restore balance to the universe because he's Tony Stark, it's what he does.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cryostasis of Constellation

 

_1_

Steve meets Tony when he’s sixteen and it’s his first year in the White House. He finds Tony passed out in the washroom because of alcohol overdose and Steve asks his bodyguard to haul Tony to his room to let the teen rest. And when Howard storms the White House looking for his son only to find Tony passed out in the First Son’s bed, he is very very livid. He wakes Tony up and reprimands him severely. Howard’s promising some serious grounding when Steve interferes.

“It’s not what you think sir. Anthony was feeling woozy and I offered to help but I slipped while I help him out of the washroom and we fall over. Tony hit his head on the door and faint.” Steve says with his sunshine smile and earnest voice and Howard’s expression soften significantly. Tony thinks how unfair because he had never see that expression directed at him.

“Is this true Tony?” Howard turns toward his only son and asks, all stern and serious. Tony touches his forehead and shrugs. Steve is his new best friend, Tony’s mind supplies helpfully and he gives the blond a shit eating grin. Steve just smile courteously in reply.

The next day, Tony transfers to Steve’s school and attaches himself to Steve like a leech. There are also articles concerning the unlikely friendship of the First Son and the genius.

(If Steve remembers correctly, it was his mom’s first birthday as the President of the United States. There were a lot of important looking people that night and he smiled so much his cheeks hurt and his teeth went dry.

He’s not sure why the Starks were there but they’re the Starks, they get invited to places. The Osborns too.

But the most important thing is he’s pretty sure Tony was no older then seventeen when he had alcohol overdose.)

#

Two months later, Steve goes over to Tony’s ~~house~~ mansion just as frequently as Tony comes to the White House.

Howard Stark is friendly, in Steve’s opinion, but he’s too detached and is a lot more concerned with his creations than his family. The way he talks passionately about one of his invention and the way he smirk at something smart that Tony has said is similar to Tony’s and Steve thinks, like father like son. Maria Stark is all smile and soft gently voice and that unsettles Steve. Just a bit. Just a tiny tad bit.

When Steve asks Tony if she’s always been like that, Tony replies “Pretty much. She’s not like your mom. I love your mom. She’s an awesome mom.”

And Steve thinks: yes, his mom is awesome but her mom is not a physicist and she doesn’t invent gadgets or write complicated equations that will result in technologies. But Steve’s mom is the first female President of the United States of America and that’s awesome enough and Steve’s immensely proud of her. So Steve says, practically oozing pride out of his very pores, “She _is_ awesome.”

Tony chuckles and says “She’s so motherly.” The genius has a longing look on his face Steve’s understand what Tony meant by awesome.

“Anyway, I’m inviting you and your mom- if she’s not busy- to come to the Stark Expo tomorrow night. You have to come.” Tony tells him as he tosses himself onto his king’s bed.

Steve drops his bag on the couch in the middle of the room and takes out his textbook. “The tickets were sold out the instant the booth and online booking sites were open.”

Tony sighs exasperatedly and crawls onto the couch, grabbing for the assignment papers Steve hands to him. “I’m Tony Stark. I can get you into everything that has the word Stark on it.”

Steve rolls his baby blue eyes as Tony continues “Except maybe my dad’s pants.” Steve glares at him and the brunet adds “I don’t know.”

Steve bursts out laughing and Tony tells him “And who said you’re going as a normal person? You’re coming as the First Son of the United States and best friend of the magnificent Tony Stark.”

“You’re not my best friend yet.” Steve tells him gently and Tony pouts.

“You are to me.” Tony says and pats Steve’s hand softly. “And wear your most extravagance outfit. And take your hot bodyguard with you, tell her to wear something sexy.” Tony adds after a moment of silence and wiggles his brows suggestively. Steve just rolls his eyes fondly and does his papers.

 

Tomorrow night, Steve finds himself in one of his finest suit. Silver white shirt underneath dark blue tuxedo and midnight blue tie. His dress shoes are new, especially bought this afternoon for this occasion. And Tony gives him an approving look and says “Now that is one hot mess. How are you the sexy hot First Son and not get a column dedicated to you and your stream of lovers?”

Madam President chuckles lightly at that and Tony gives her a wink. She bursts into a pearl of laughter and Tony smirks smugly at him so Steve rolls his eyes. Steve answers “Because I’m faithful and I’m a good son.”

Tony makes a face like he can’t understand the word faithful then he asks Steve’s mom dramatically “Is he really, madam President?”

The blond woman smiles at Tony and pats Steve’s shoulder softly then she tells Tony “Yes, I am very fortunate to have him as a son.”

Tony looks jealous for a brief moment and then he says “Oh boy aren’t you spoilt, Stevey.”

The blond teen swats his friend’s hand and Tony laughs. Then Tony continues “I had to sneak out from my parents and the billions security stations at every exit to come get you both. So you both better smile your best in front of the camera. Plus, to have the President and the First Son grace my most humble expo is an honor. I have to show off to the world.”

Steve laughs and his moms suggests softly “Well, we should get going now. The expo’s about to start.”

Tony nods eagerly before turning around to face the cameras that have been capturing his butts. Then he realize something amidst the flashing light of the cameras and asks Steve “Where’s your hot bodyguard?”

Madam President laughs and the cameramen eagerly take countless photographs of her. Steve sighs and turns to look at Tony and tells the raven hair teen “Her name is Melinda.”

“Yes, I know. And she’s hot. Where is she?”

Steve rolls his eyes “Somewhere.”

Tony pouts and Steve laughs as his mom ushers both teen into the safe confine of the expo hall.

The teens stick close to the President throughout the opening show that features Howard and Maria. And somehow, Tony got roped onto the stage and Howard announce to the entire audiences about how brilliant Tony’s mind is. How amazing his inventions are and of course they put Tony’s creations on display because hello, Tony’s stuff has been on display since he was five. The genius preens under the attention and he looks genuinely happy, something Steve rarely see under that mask of sass and sarcasm and Steve finds himself smiling along with him.

Steve and his mom both wait for people to disperse and for the Starks to leave the stage. Maria and Howard look surprised to see the First Family and Maria says “It’s such a pleasant surprise to see you here, madam President.”

Howard finds himself agreeing with a soft yes because he didn’t know the First Family bought tickets. If he had known they were interested, he would’ve send the tickets.

“Oh, Tony invited us here. I hope we’re not imposing.” The blond President replies and Maria laughs softly.

“No, not at all.” Maria tells them and touches her son’s shoulder softly. Tony smile widens and he looks at both of his parents. Howard gives him a pat to the shoulder and says “Why don’t you show your friend around Tony. Your mom and I have something to discuss with madam President.”

Steve looks to his mom and she nods softly. Tony throws an arm around Steve’s shoulder amicably and announces to them all “Well, I’ll be stealing Steve for the night then.”

Tony spends the entire night dragging Steve in and out of various rooms, looking at technologies Steve doesn’t even know exist and lingering at some stuffs that Tony created. And there’s an entire room just to put things Tony invented in, and they’re organized in chronological orders. Steve is extremely impressed when Tony show him some engine looking thingy he created when he was around six. Tony beams with pride and sips the drink.

“You know, with all your achievement; I would think you’d be an MIT graduate by now.” Steve tells him and Tony laughs.

“I got lots of offers. Declined it. Like, I’m a teenager. Lemme _be_ a teenager. I don’t wanna take notes and write thesis when I’m sixteen. I wanna go to senior prom, get drunk, make out, and have fun.” Tony says as he grabs for another drink. Then he adds “My dad was not impressed.”

“What about your mom then?”

“Meh, she doesn’t care. I can quit high school and get high every day and it still wouldn’t matter. All that matter is, I am Tony Stark and I am a genius.”

Steve makes an unbelieving face at him so Tony clarifies “Her words, not mine.”

 

The next day, every newspaper has Steve’s face plastered on them because last night live news of him and his mom going to Stark Expo is not enough they have to put it on papers and blog about it. ‘The Starks and the First Family are best friends’ they say. ‘Teen genius Tony Stark sneaked out to get the President and her Son’ they say. And Steve is starting to understand what they mean about the stress of living in the White House.

That noon, Bucky calls him and it’s during his car ride home with Tony. (He’s not sure why Melinda lets Tony inside the car. More importantly, he’s not sure why he lets Tony inside the car. Why he’s here anyway?) Steve answers it at first ring and gives his friend the Eyebrows-of-Reprimandation. The other teen just wiggles his eyebrows suggestively as Steve says softly “Hey.”

 _“Steve.”_ Bucky replies, equally soft and gently. And Steve sighs an even softer ‘Yeah?’

Tony giggles and asks loudly “Your girlfriend, Stevie?”

Steve grunts and Bucky asks with annoyance in his tone _“Who’s that?”_

“Ignore him.” Steve replies and Tony makes sad puppy noises. This time, it’s Bucky’s turn to grunt.

“You’re not going to introduce us Stevie? How mean. And here I thought your girl would like to talk to the amazing genius that is Tony Stark.”

Steve groans in replies but the corners of his lips quirk up a bit and Tony laugh at his own awesomeness. Bucky goes silent a bit before saying _“Do not tell me you’re with whoever I think you’re with.”_

“Yeah, about that. He’s a good guy.” Steve defends Tony and the raven hair preens like a peacock.

_“You do know your ‘friendship’ with him is the talk of the nation right? They were talking about it nonstop about two months ago and now it’s what they all talk about with that stunt you pulled last night.”_

“It wasn’t a stunt. Tony is a friend. A valuable one and his family is a national treasure to this country.” Steve tells Bucky and he can hear Tony beams like a child.

_“So you’re his friend out of duty as First Son? Is that why you’re my friend too?”_

“What? No. How the hell did you came up with idea?”

 _“Whatever.”_ Bucky replies rather angrily judging from the tone of his voice and hangs up. Steve stares at him phone with confusion and texts ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’

The First Son never gets a reply to that text and when they talk to each other on phone, they don’t mention about that little ‘incident’ either. Because Bucky doesn’t tell and Steve doesn’t ask.

#

The first big problem that Steve helped Tony through as his best friend occurs about ten months after their initial contact at the White House. It’s not the kind of problem that can be solved by bitching about strict teachers or explaining complex math theories. No. It’s the kind that had Steve stumbling into his room to find Tony drunk and incoherent with a bottle of very expensive whiskey in his hand.

Steve snatches the whiskey from Tony’s hand and tosses it to Melinda. The bodyguard bins the bottle and Tony whimpers like a kicked dog. Steve sits down on the couch next to his friend.

“What was that for?” Tony asks angrily and glares at Steve heatedly, as if he could melt Steve with his imaginary laser eyes.

“I did what was logical.” Steve replies and Tony grunts angrily. The blond continues “You’re seventeen, Tony. You’re not supposed to be drunk.”

“I’m nearly eighteen Stevie.” The dark hair teen slurs and put his feet on the armrest of the coach.

Steve looks at him and says “Legal drinking age is twenty one.”

Tony makes some more incoherent noises and mumbles “M’not drunk.” and burrows into the fluffy couch. He says sleepily “Just bit tipsy.”

The First Son huffs “This is more than just tipsy.”

Tony just grunts a reply and throws the cushion over his face. Steve sighs and touches his friend’s knees gently. The prodigy jerks his knees and throws the cushion into Steve’s face. Melinda reacts quickly and she’s by Steve’s side in an instance. Steve just hold her off with a hands-up and says “Can you give us a moment?”

Melinda nods a confirmation and leaves the room. Then Steve asks Tony softly “Tony, What’s wrong?”

Tony just kicks Steve in the thigh harshly and says “I hate you.” And Steve makes an understanding noise and sleeps on the other end of the couch.

 

They wake up the next morning because Melinda comes to tell Steve that they have less than two hours before school starts. Tony groans loudly and unpleasantly, complaining about his head being hammered in, while Steve gets up to sleepily tell Melinda they’ll be ready in a minute.

That didn’t actually happened. Steve ends up sitting by Tony’s feet listening to his problem because the first thing Tony did after he got woken up was grab Steve’s hand like a child.

“I’m actually bi.” He says and Steve gives him a puzzling look because of course Tony’s bi. Anybody with eyes can see it.

So Steve does the thing he thought was right and replied “I know Tony. And I’m not disgusted by it. Anybody with a pair of perfectly functioning eyes can see that.”

“Apparently not my parents.” Tony mumbles as he massages his temple with his eyes closed.

Steve gives him a flustered look and asks “What?” Because they’re Tony’s parents. How could they not know that their only child is bi? Do they not talk to one another or something? Because last time he checked, Tony was still living with his parents so that’s pretty much out of the equation.

Tony makes a miserable noise at the back of his throat and hugs the pillow. He says, muffled by the fluffy pillow, “Someone gave my dad pictures of me doing things with boys.”

Steve makes an understanding look and nods as if to tell him to continue and Tony did.

“My dad didn’t really gives a shit. Too busy with his technology- stuffs- I don’t _care_.” Tony says, emphasizing on care, and Steve thinks that Tony did care. Tony cares a lot about the techs and his father’s approval and his mother’s love. Tony cares about good grades and straight As. He cares about being a good friend and a perfect son. He cares about lots of things. Too many things and it wears him down. The pause is cut short when Tony exhales shakily and continues “Mom. Mom was upset.”

Steve looks at Tony with concern because that doesn’t sound good. The way Tony said it doesn’t make it sound good. So Steve asks “Tony, what happened?”

And Tony whimpers and snuggles into the couch. Steve touches his arm lightly, carefully, as if treating a porcelain doll and says soothingly “Tony.” And Tony cracks like a castle of glass.

“A dickhead board member of the company showed my dad some pretty compromising photos of me. I was just kissing some guy y’know. He just gave me a disappointed look-” Tony voice cracked and Steve moves closer. Tony gives him a weak smile and continues “It’s okay. I get it all the time. But mom. Mom was angry. She was mad. Livid. She- She was not okay with me being romantically or sexually involved with anything relatively male. And she said a few mean things. And shook me a bit to make me see sense and maybe slapped me once or twice.”

Steve gasps and takes a closer look at Tony. He grabs his friend’s face and examines for palm prints but found none. Tony laughs bitterly and mumbles “It’s- It’s gone. I know how to hide it you know.”

And Steve heart breaks into pieces because _Tony knows how to hide bruises_. God knows how many time have this kind of things happened before.

“This kind of things happened before doesn’t it?” Steve whispers the question and Tony gives him a sad loop side smile. He nods and Steve releases a tight angry noised through his nose and pulls Tony into a bear hugged. He pats Tony’s head like he would a child and says softly “I’m so sorry Tony. I’m sorry. I just-”

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m used to it.” Tony cut him mid-sentence, his voice dry and choked as he speaks and Steve hugs him tighter when he felt hot liquid on his shoulder.

That’s when Melinda knocks on Steve’s door again. Tony let go of Steve and discreetly wipes his eyes and nose as Steve walks out of the room.

“I’m not going to school today Melinda. I’m- I can’t. Could you uh ask for permission slips for me?” Steve asks and Melinda nods. Then the blond adds “And Tony too. Please.”

“I will. For both of you.” The half Chinese reassures and Steve smiles a bit.

“Oh and could you bring me a bottle of alcohol?” Steve requests and Melinda raised a fine brow and Steve splutters. He says “It’s--- Complicated. I’ll tell my mom as soon as possible.”

“Steve, you’re underage.” Melinda states matter-of-factly and Steve flushes.

“It’s for Tony.” The blond replies and Melinda makes a sound akin to ‘Ah’. She nods once and she’s on her way out of the east wing.

When Steve reenters the room, Tony peeks at him from under the pillows and asks “Who was that?”

“Melinda.” Steve replies and Tony makes a face. Steve chuckles at the ridiculousness of it.

“You meant your hot bodyguard that can totally snap my neck when she does pirouette.” Tony states and Steve laughs outright. The corners of the genius’ lips quirks up a bit at that sight and he starts the conversation awkwardly “So.”

Steve raises an amused brow and Tony sighs exasperatedly. “That thing that just happened. It didn’t happened.”

Steve laughs and sits on his on the floor. He says “The crying or the hugging?”

Tony glares at him and mumbles “You are such an asshole, Rogers. You’re lucky you even have me as a friend.”

And Steve laughs till his stomach goes rigid and his breathing grows short. Tony just glares at him heatedly and pouts. When there’s a knock on the door this time, Tony moves to answer it because Steve can’t even sit up.

Steve hears him ask Melinda “What’s this? Whiskey?”

There’s a muffled reply of “It’s your favorite drink isn’t it?”

Tony laughs and says “Oh man. I love you forever hot bodyguard lady.”

“You should thank Steve. He asked for it.”

Then there’s a choked kind of noise Steve can’t identify. And before he know what it was, Tony is saying “Wait, aren’t we supposed to be at school?”

“Already taken care of.”

“Man this is awesome.”

There’s a feminine chuckling in the background before the door slammed shut. Then Steve’s sleeping space is invaded by Tony and his limbs and heavy body. Steve groans painfully when he’s kneed in the thigh by Tony, unintentionally.

“Sorry.” Tony apologizes after a swing of alcohol. He makes a blissful face and hands Steve the bottle. Steve declines and Tony pouts at him so he gave in.

“You are a very bad influence, Stark” Steve tells him but he still takes a sip. Tony grins gleefully like he was just praised and Steve rolls his eyes. They pass the bottle between them back and forth until Steve became a bit too tipsy. Tony laughs when Steve poured the whiskey into his nose and choked.

“Hey Tony.” Steve slurs out, still elegant and articulate despite border lining being drunk. Tony produces an acknowledging voice through his nose and Steve continues “I’m actually gay.”

And Tony spits the drink onto everything. He looks at Steve skeptically and asks “You serious?” Because _no way_.

Steve nods. The raven hair prodigy narrows his eyes and asks again “You sure? Like a hundred percent sure. Cause this might just be a phase or something.”

“Yes Tony. I am a hundred percent sure I am gay. I’ve been gay since I was like twelve or something.”

Tony gasps and asks curiously “How did you know? You were twelve for god sake! They didn’t give you the gay card or anything right?”

Steve’s about to answer but Tony continues “Wait. Do gay cards even exist? Like what is it?”

The First Son makes a face and Tony instantly shuts up. He says “I was in love okay?”

“Did your mom knows?” Tony asks quietly and Steve nods.

“Yeah. My grandma knows about it too. They were supportive. But I- we don’t talk about it in public. I guess they didn’t want whatever privacy I have to dissolve or something.”

Tony nods and says “Tell me about him?”

“Well, he was my best friend. Still is. And I’ve been in love with him ever since I could remember.”

“Dude that’s like- oh my god. That’s long ass crazy time.” Tony exclaims and Steve laughs.  The dark hair young man flaps his hands around and says “No wait. That’s unimportant. If he’s your best friend, then what am I?”

Steve makes a face and Tony feigns hurt.

“Lemme give you a hint. We just had our first sleepover.”

 “Which you forced onto me. Talking about force, how did you get in here? This is the White House, it’s the most secured place in the planet.”

Tony ignores Steve in favor of going on “We’re drinking alcohol and talking about our love life.”

“Mine technically. Plus I haven’t tell you anything yet.”

Tony rolls his eyes and continues “So that means we are best friend.”

Steve laughs and replies “I guess we are.”

Tony gives Steve a grin and lifts the bottle up “We need another bottle to celebrate!”

Steve giggles and says sternly “No” and Tony mumbles something about party pooper under his breath.

 

That night, Steve talks his mom about the alcohol and the coming out of the closet to Tony. He got grounded for two weeks because of underage alcohol consumption and he pouted.

His mother laughs at him and hugs him tightly. She kisses his forehead and strokes his cheeks gently. She says “I’m so proud of you Steve. For being truthful to me about the alcohol and for being there for your friend. And most importantly for not being ashamed of your sexual orientation.”

Steve smiles and his mom kisses his cheeks and pats his head. “My baby boy.” She mumbles and looks at him with stars in her eyes. Then she continues “It will be rough for you if people knows about this Steve. Tough times and unhappy times. I’m sorry if my position will put a burden on your personal life should you come out publicly. So just ask and I will leave.”

Steve looks at her surprisingly and says “What? No. Mom. No. Never. They love you and you’re good at it. Good for this country. I can shoulder a blizzard if it makes you’re happy.”

The president laugher is watery and she strokes her son’s cheek softly. “Oh sweetheart. You’re all grown up.” She says, her voice is a bit cracked, then she adds “Your happiness is more important to me Steve.”

And the first son hugs his mother tightly.

(Much much later that night, he calls Bucky. Steve talks to Bucky about Tony. Not about Tony being a bi. No.

(Bucky knows about that already. America knows about that, there’s just no official confirmation yet and Bucky warned Steve once about Tony and the two don’t talk about how it got turned into a discussion.)

Steve tells Bucky about him admitting to Tony that he’s gay. Steve tells Bucky about his first sip of alcohol and his first sleepover since Bucky. The conversation is surprisingly short. Unlike the ones they had ever since Steve moved into the White House. Steve doesn’t ask when Bucky stiffly said he’s hanging up and Bucky doesn’t offer. Bucky’s busy, Steve thinks, he’s in his senior year after all, he has his PSAT coming up and he has to worry about his university applications. So Steve just says bye and hang ups and feels his heart clench painfully because he knows where Bucky’s heading after high school. (And it’s not uni.))

#

Nearly a month after what happened, Melinda hands Steve a newspaper when he got into the car. He takes one look at the first page and the blood drains out of his face. He swallows thickly as he reads ‘Tony Stark, heir to Stark Industry, is a homo?’

“I- Is this published in every paper?” Steve asks as he grabs his cup of hot chocolate from Melinda.

“Yes.” Melinda says softly, as if to soothe Steve.

Steve was already calling Tony. The genius answers on the first ring with a sleepy “Hello.”

“Hey. Tony. I read the papers.” Steve says in lieu of a greeting and there’s a pause on the other side of the line.

“Yeah about that.” Tony says, skirting on the topic. “My dad told me about that, through Jarvis by the way, to prepare myself because he just fired his asshole partner.”

“Oh.” Steve replies. He stays silence for a bit before adding “I see.”

Tony makes a confirming noise and Steve asks “Your mom?”

“Jarvis smuggled me out of the house since six in the morning. I’m actually not late for school, how cool is that?” Tony replies and Steve lets out a relief chuckle.

“I’ll be there soon.” Steve assures and Tony mumbles a ‘whatever’ at him.

Turns out, Steve’s chauffeur seems to understand what’s going on and gets Steve to school in under fifteen minutes. Steve is extremely impressed and Melinda gives him an approving nod. The first son rushes into the school and finds Tony half sleeping in his seat at the back of the class.

“Hey.” Steve says with a tap on Tony’s shoulder. Tony jumps out of his seat and glared at Steve accusingly.

“Scared the crap outta me.” Tony mumbles and scrubs at his face tiredly.

“Everything okay?” Steve asks at Tony looks at him questioningly like having other people care about his wellbeing is the worst.

“What do you mean by okay? You mean physically okay or mentally okay or psychologically okay. I am okay physically, wasn’t shaken or slapped and I’m not overdose with alcohol. The last time I was overdosed by it, I got to befriend the American Darling. It wasn’t a bad experience and I’d be happy to pass out from alcohol overdose if I got another American Darling. Because seriously, you’re like the best thing that ever happened to me. Aside of alcohol and pretty boys an-”

“Tony. Stop blabbering. You’re not okay and it’s fine to admit that you’re not okay. Don’t blabber nonsense to get out of it.” Steve cuts Tony mid-rant and the dark hair genius pouts.

“I’m not blabbering. Blabbering is unbecoming of a genius. A trait associated with a troubled teenager. Which I am not by the way. I am a genius, playboy, billionaire, and philanthropist. I do not blabber.” Tony says and Steve rolls his eyes before he sat down.

The two stare at each other awkwardly with Steve patting Tony’s shoulder. Then Tony breaks the silence with “You know everyone’s gonna know about this right?”

“Yeah, and we all kinda know you’re bi.”

“Yeah, but this is different. Like, this is actual confirmation of me being bi. No wait. They said I’m gay. You sure you wanna stick with me? Cause I’m gonna get bullied or something. It’s gonna be rough Steve.”

Steve looks at him like he’s stupid and says “Ugh, yeah, like I’m ever gonna leave you alone.”

“You’re America’s First Son.” Tony states it like it’s something important. It is, but not more important than his friend so Steve replies “Yeah, and I’m gay.”

Tony looks scandalized and shush him loudly. Steve smiles fondly and tells him “I’ve been through worse.”

 

About four days later, Tony punches a guy during lunch break because he was being a dick. And that is the origin of their big problem number two.

Thing is, Tony doesn’t mind people calling him gay or queer; he told Steve just as much. He said that he learned not to let other opinion hurt him. After all, Jarvis once told him that opinion doesn’t not shape a person, experience does so don’t let other people judge who you are. And for a moment, Steve thought that they’ll make it through with no trouble. But no. An asshole just has to go and taunt Tony and call Steve gay on the top of his lungs.

“Oh, the Stark’s queer heir is here.” Justin Hammer says as he passes Tony and Steve’s table. Tony glares at the teen but says nothing and keeps eating his spaghetti. Then Justin continues mockingly “What did mommy and daddy say?”

Tony rolls his eyes because seriously. How childish of him to taunt his ‘rival’ in such a pathetic way. It is so cliché Steve wants to laugh.

There’s a moment of silence and Steve thinks that yeah this is over, they can go back to talking about their ass-kicking class with Melinda again.  Then all hell break loose when Justin asks “Is the First Son gay too?”

And Tony turns to look at Hammer so fast Steve’s pretty sure he has a whiplash. Steve reaches out to touch Tony’s fisted hand but Tony grinds out “The fuck did you just say Hammer?”

Not that Steve isn’t gay, he is and he’s totally fine with it and he’s also planning on coming out sooner or later, so why the hell not. Steve is fine, he shows Tony just as much when he touches Tony’s hand again in a reassuring manner.

Hammer feigns gasping and shouts aloud “I said: Is the First Son gay too?”

Tony stands up so fast his chair falls backward and Steve stands up to push Tony back down into his seat, angling himself so that he’s blocking Tony’s view of Justin. The cafeteria’s attention is on them at that moment, and every action cease as they observe the First Son and his queer friend.

“Ignore him Tony.” Steve says, calmly and softly because he knows how to handle this. Calming angry best friends and stopping them from getting into troubles, albeit unsuccessfully given the amount of detentions and groundings Bucky received.

“Aw, you two stick together so much. How cute. The First Son is totally gay. Disgusting homos stick together after all.” Hammer says loudly and Tony is straddling him and bashing his face in by the time he finished his sentence. The cafeteria erupts into a chaotic mess of noise and Steve’s aware of the camera phones that are directed at them, because Tony Stark is fighting. Who want to miss that?

Steve yanks Tony away from Hammer but the raven hair genius keeps struggling out of Steve’s hold and screaming profanity and bloody murder at Hammer. Steve actually needs to pushes him down against the table to keep him still. Melinda has Hammer’s collar in her grabs, his nose broken and his lips cracked. There’s blood running down his chin and dirtying his shirt and he still spits out arrogantly “That all you got you fucking queer?” and Melinda yanks him up till his feet no longer touch the floor. Hammer squeaks like mouse and Steve hears some snickering.

“Tony’s not homosexual.” Steve tells Hammer, enunciating every words slowly as if he’s talking to a child. Hammer gives him a look and the blond continues “He’s bisexual, which means that he is attracted to both male and female.”

“I know what a bi is, you fucker.” Hammer shouts and Melinda shakes him. He groans and glares at Steve. Steve looks at him and takes a deep breathe when he hears the sound of footstep approaching the cafeteria.

“And yes.” Steve tells Hammer. The teen in question glares at the blond heatedly and spits angrily “Yes what?”

“Yes, I am gay.” Steve replies right before the door bursts open to reveal the principal and a few teachers and the whole cafeteria turns silence, dumbstruck at the confession and no one moves. Tony struggles under Steve’s firm hold and tries to kick Steve. The principal seems confused by the silence and lack of movement and says “We’ll be taking Mr. Hammer and Mr. Stark now.”

Melinda hands Justin Hammer over to the P.E teacher and gives him an intimidating look and the buffed history teacher grab Tony from Steve.

With his mouth no longer pressed into the table, Tony yells angrily “You dimwit. You don’t go around announcing that you’re gay. You’re the goddamn First Son.”

Steve smiles at him and Tony seems to get angrier. He’s being dragged out of the cafeteria but he still screams loudly “Wipe that grin of your fucking face you shithead! How fucking stu-”

And that ended like that because Steve’s pretty sure the history teacher stuffs his tie into Tony’s mouth. The blond sits down and Melinda refuses to go away, looking from her nose at him and give him a look that clearly says ‘you are stupid’. Steve sighs and says “Yes, I know.” He goes back to eating and he wonder how many videos of him coming out will be on the internet. Then he thinks, dear god what has he done? Because seriously, what has he done?

 

Tony’s sulking by the time Steve sees him walking out of math class. Steve calls out enthusiastically “Hey Tony.” And he’s ignored, so he sighs and runs up to the teen and taps him on his shoulder.

“Don’t touch me, don’t talk to me, and don’t associate with me. I don’t do being friends with fucktard who’s the President’s son and still announced he’s gay as fuck because what the fucking fuck Rogers?” Tony rants angrily at him.

Steve grins at him stupidly and says “I’m sorry.”

Tony grunts at that but says nothing at the lack of explanations. Steve asks “Wanna grab some snacks on our way home?”

“I have detention.” Tony says and it explains everything. Steve makes and ‘Oh’ noise in understanding and Tony shrugs. The genius continues “Ton of fucks are gonna happen and you’re in deep fucking shit Steve. I suspects many interviews and press conferences.”

Steve groans miserably and Tony pats his shoulder, because he understands being interviewed by idiotic interviewers who care more about ruining his life than getting the news and he also understand press conference. Because _press conference_. Oh and paparazzi, lots and lots of noisy paparazzi. So the prodigy says “Also, there will be paparazzi. Shit loads of ‘em.”

This time, Steve leans his head against his locker and groans loudly; as if giving up on his life entirely. Tony pats his shoulder before he walks off to the detention room and says “Good luck with that.”

Steve spends the car right not meeting Melinda’s in the eyes and feeling guilty, because he just increased her workload by a million time unknowingly.

“Melinda.” Steve says when they reach the east wing and the half Chinese looks at him questioningly. The blond continues “I uh- won’t be having dinner with mom. Could you um- tell her about that?”

The dark hair agent nods her head once and smiles a bit. Steve grins at her and says “Thank you Melinda, you’re the best.”

The woman smiles widely this time, the corner of her lips turn up in amusement and she tells Steve “You’re very welcome Steve.” And she reaches discreetly for her vibrating phone and frowns slightly. Steve looks at her with concern and he asks her just as much.

“Is there something wrong Melinda?”

Melinda shakes her head lightly and replies “Nothing you should worry of.” She ushers him into his room and closes the door.

Steve stays rooted at the entrance for a moment and strains his ears to listen what Melinda has to say but realized what he’s doing is an invasion of privacy. So he stops because Steve is a considerable person who is brought up well, even if he’s a teenager and even if Melinda may be in trouble because of his stupid action this afternoon. The First Son sighs and rubs his temple lightly before deciding to take a shower.

The blond teen spend about forty minutes inside the bathroom, bathing and dunking his head into the water to get some sense into himself but just got his brain flooded with soap water. He sighs as shuts the door to the bathroom and nearly jumps up twenty meter when Melinda is suddenly by his side.

Melinda hands him her standard issue phone and says “Deputy Director wants to talk to you.”

Steve frowns, takes the phone and frowns a bit more when Melinda exits his bedroom. He puts the phone to his ear and hears _“Hello sir, this is Maria Hill speaking.”_

Steve sighs because what is it with Maria and calling him sir. He’s seventeen, bordering eighteen, not a seventy years old war general. So the blond replies “Hi Maria, call me Steve.”

The deputy director ignores his commentary completely and goes on _“Sir, it has come to my attention that you have outed yourself in front of your school population.”_

“About that.” Steve says dubiously and flops himself onto the couch “Didn’t know that Melinda would tell you already.”

 _“Sir, agent May has yet to tell me anything. I found out about it from the_ internet _.”_ Maria says the last word scandalously and Steve wonders if it is.

Steve makes an incoherent noise and Maria continues _“It is trending on twitter and the video is on the verge of breaking Guinness Record of most view.”_

“It’s that bad?” Steve asks.

 _“What do you think sir?”_ Maria asks sarcastically in return. She adds quickly _“The First Son of the First Female President of the United States of America outed himself in front of his schoolmates. It’s worthy of the news headline to me sir.”_

“I’m sorry if I cause you any trouble.” Steve says and Maria sighs a long suffering sigh.

 _“Sad to say sir, but we’ve handle worse.”_ Maria tells him reassuringly and Steve releases a relief sighs. Then the deputy director continues _“But the problem here sir, is that agent May is getting attached to you.”_

“What do you mean by that Maria?” Steve asks.

He hears a sigh then the answer comes _“Sir, you are not supposed to call your bodyguards by their names or offers them your snack during car rides. And you definitely do not ask them to join you on your movie nights or ask them to sneak you whiskeys.”_

“In my defense, there was a problem that can only be solved by alchohol.” Steve replies defensively and he can _hear_ Maria’s eyeroll through her breathing.

“You’re not firing her are you?” He asks, concerned, because he doesn’t want Melinda to get fired because he’s a naturally friendly person. He can’t help it. He’s just born friendly.

_“No sir, but a new bodyguard will be reassigned to you. Melinda asked this of me and I agree, because attachment to the people that we are supposed to protect is not a good thing.”_

“Oh.” Steve says, disappointed.

Maria assures him _“Agent May likes you very much sir, and she doubts there’s anyone out there who cannot get attached to you once they know you. You needn’t worry sir, agent May will choose who is assigned to you; so be assured that you are going to be in safe hands.”_

“I- yes. Thank you, I guess.”

_“You’re welcome sir.”_

“Yes-yes.”

_“And sir, we will inform madam President about the news and info about the press conference and interviews will be given to you by the time you have your new bodyguard.”_

“Thank you Maria.”

_“Just doing my job sir.”_

Steve hangs up and goes out of his room to hand Melinda her phone. He mumbles “Sorry.”

Melinda smiles at him and touches his shoulder gently. She says “It’s not your fault Steve. You’re a good kid and I enjoyed working with you. Just don’t do anything stupid.”

“Are you going to be in trouble?” Steve asks and Melinda actually laughs.

“As if they can punish me.” She tells him fondly and the blond smiles in return.

Steve turns to go back inside his room but turns around and states “Hey, Melinda. Pick someone as awesome as you okay?”

The half Chinese nods with a small smile and Steve gets into his room.

#

Phil Coulson storms into Steve’s life with a stern face and equally stern words one afternoon after school. He comes in with steps that are precise and sure. He looks at them neutrally and doesn’t laughs at Tony’s jokes. Phil doesn’t even _allow_ Tony into the car, he literally drag Tony out the window because the dark hair teen say he’ll only leave the car if Phil can drag him out the window. Phil instantly gets into Tony’s good book because Tony has seriously weird definitions of things and Steve isn’t sure he can handle any of them. Also, Phil keeps telling Steve to call him ‘Agent Coulson’. Oh, and can’t forget about the file that Phil dumbs on him for his rodeo. He reassured Steve that it is the perfect answer to the press conference tomorrow. Steve looks at them skeptically and Phil tells him sternly “Please stick to what we wrote sir.”

Steve nods meekly because he, in his entire life, has never dealt with anyone that is _neutral_ toward him. They just like him. And the blond is really doubting Melinda’s theory about everyone liking him.

“If you have any questions sir, I’ll be outside.” Phil says and Steve keeps on reading until Tony sneaks into his bedroom via the window.

(The Frist Son is seriously concern about a) the security of the White House because Tony always seems to be able to sneak in anytime he wants, b) the staffs loyalty because he’s pretty sure Tony seduced his way into Steve’s room every time and Steve doesn’t want to live in a place where seduction can be used against his staffs and c) Tony’s future in becoming a burglar. Also, Steve wonders if the snipers knew it was Tony who sneak in through the windows because Tony always sneaks in with no trouble.)

When dinner time comes, Phil knocks on Steve’s bedroom door twice before coming in to tell them about dinner. The new bodyguard is not impressed to see Tony lounging idly on Steve’s couch while waxing poetry about his Physics assignment. The raven hair teen just smirk cheekily and wiggles his eyebrows.

 

On the day of the rodeo, Phil wakes him up since six in the morning. Steve spends the three hours until the press conference having one sided conversation with Bucky via messages and waiting for Tony because he promised to come over before the press conference. But Steve wouldn’t count on it because Tony waking up by nine on a Saturday is something that’s not going to happen.

Tony got there near the end of the conference, he waves a little and poses for some photographers. Steve rolls his eyes and the nerves over Phil’s eyebrows twitch slightly. The two teen later go out to have lunch at various junk food chains and realize that people are starting to look at them differently. Some are disgusted, some are amused and some look at them with aww. And Steve wonders if they’ll be okay.

(Everything turns out okay and they enter senior year smoothly.)

 

#

 

Bucky leaves for the military and he gives Steve a call right before he gets on the train. His mom calls Steve later and cries at him through the phone until she’s a bubbling mess of incoherent words.

The blond receives a letter a week later, it reads:

107th, stationed in Pakistan and leaving in ten months.

I’m fine.

Take care.

 

#

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
